You can read it yourself, but he does a typically excellent job of presenting both sides. He predicts Bradley will be at Pawtucket for the first 11 days, those giving the Sox control until 2019.

But then he provides a number of good reasons why they would play him from the get go, and a big one is what the fans are thinking and showing in terms of viewership of spring training games and ticket sales for the regular season. Starting Bradley now could help with those problems. He even points out that Henry is a fan as well as an owner and just might say to heck with the extra year, I want to see him play now.

You can read it yourself, but he does a typically excellent job of presenting both sides. He predicts Bradley will be at Pawtucket for the first 11 days, those giving the Sox control until 2019.

But then he provides a number of good reasons why they would play him from the get go, and a big one is what the fans are thinking and showing in terms of viewership of spring training games and ticket sales for the regular season. Starting Bradley now could help with those problems. He even points out that Henry is a fan as well as an owner and just might say to heck with the extra year, I want to see him play now.

I don't think anyone would complain if he was with the team all year, but I'm not sure that's the smart baseball decision.

Keeping him out for 9 games vs losing another full year of control is probably the smart move here.

Add to it that the kid has yet to play AAA ball and I think the answer is obvious.

Let him get his hacks in at Pawtucket then bring him up to aclimate him to the big leagues for next season.

Who knows, as often as Ellsbury seems to be able to injure himself, JBJ may get a lot of ML playing time this year.

Ratings for the sox have not been good and Henry will try anything, including bringing up kids from McCoy before they are ready. No doubt once the playoffs start for the other two teams, the sox will be third choice.

What if Jackie Bradley spends 15 days at Pawtucket and then posts a .230/.290/.310/.600 line for the Red Sox in his first 150 plate appearances by early June? Do the Red Sox send Bradley back down to Triple A (or Double A)?

What if Jackie Bradley spends 15 days at Pawtucket and then posts a .230/.290/.310/.600 line for the Red Sox in his first 150 plate appearances by early June? Do the Red Sox send Bradley back down to Triple A (or Double A)?

I don't think they would send him all the way down to AA, but if that was the case and all of the current OFers were healthy and doing better than that .230/.290/.310/.600 line, then I'd bet AAA would be the answer. I mean you want the kid to play everyday so he can improve. He won't get that if he's sitting on the bench as a 4th OFer.

This may all be a moot conversation anyway. All the Red Sox are looking to do is find a suitable replacement until Ortiz comes back. Whether JBJ starts the season with the big club or not, he'll most likely be heading to Pawtucket as soon as Ortiz comes back.........that is barring injury to either Gomes, Ells or Victorino.

This is such a ridiculous discussion. John Kruk said it best on yesterdays broadcast....forget what managment says....players on a team expect the best players to be on the team, and would be insulted if a guy who hits 450 in the spring is sent down for control reasons. What is the downside of keeping Bradley up, when clealry he is needed now due to Ortiz Injury adn if he does not do well and yu send him down later, you do not lose the year of control anyway? The downside is that he does well and you never send him down and we lose the year of control.....oh the horrors......lose a year 5 years from now, when we have no idea what will be going on 5 years from now....if w had this disucssion about Ells years ago would anyone have cared we lost the year of control of this year....no....he would have either been resigned coming off an injured year or he would be gone and the $ he is making this year would have been spent on a Free Agent to replace him or elsewhere with J Bradley taking his place in center now.....a team who is in it to make the playoffs(and yes I think we can make the playoffs) has to make moves to achieve that goal.....not for an unknown 5 years from now.....heeck we may draft someone next year who plays CF like Joe D and Softy will be writing how we need to get rid of that bum Jackie Bradley.....right now, he is one of the best 25...and because of injuries we have a key spot for him on the team.....we need him on the team. We cant count on rainouts in April and if Jackie Bradley is the difference between going even 4-7 over the 1st 11 games, instead of 3-8, then it would be worht the UNKNOWN year of Control.

Keeping him out for 9 games vs losing another full year of control is probably the smart move here.

Add to it that the kid has yet to play AAA ball and I think the answer is obvious.

Let him get his hacks in at Pawtucket then bring him up to aclimate him to the big leagues for next season.

Who knows, as often as Ellsbury seems to be able to injure himself, JBJ may get a lot of ML playing time this year.

Chris, you seem to be doing nothing more than repeating buzz phrases like "control", and spouting out the reflex company line. There is no "control", it's called arbitration award. Bradley's arbitration award, in 7 years vs. his market for one year of FA is something that you don't have a clue about. Ellsbury's getting nearly 10 million a year from arbitration awards. The notion that the Red Sox need to focus less on the best line-up for winning as many of the first or any 9 baseball games during the first half of the season, just to bean count on what would amount to 5 or 10M speculative costs 7 years from now, that's utterly incompetent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the notion that a couple more weeks of AAA, because he hasn't done AAA yet, is lazy bugaboo! Lebron James didn't play college basketball.

Management will actually go on the PR crusade to defend a move like this, which can't be defended because it's a big market team who spends a fortune on toilet seats and gets no points for a bureaucratic hypocritical bean counting move like this!

I notice this guy is acting as of Bradley on the roster means that he'll be a bench OF'er because Ellsbury is in CF? What! If the Red Sox management is so stupid that they don't start Bradley in LF, they are more incompetent than I though. Gomes and Nava or Sweeney or Carp, Red Sox fans should boycott if they make a move like that.

It's real simple. 7 years from now, if Bradley is still around and fit and playing well in MLB as a starter, it's a grain of sand on a beach for the Red Sox to spend on the difference in the arbitration award and first free agent year for Bradley, Jr. If they don't like him enough to sign him to a FA contract, they don't need to be doing this stupid nonsense they are doing with Ellsbury. They need to trade him before it gets to this nonsense.

The best lineup to give the Red Sox the best chance to win any set of 9 games during the first half of the season to see if they want to become a minor league exhibition team like last year's 2nd half or not, the best lineup since they refuse to trade Ellsbury is:

Bradley LF (reamins to be seen but gets on base and has speed)

Ellsbury CF (hits LP and RP very similarly)

Shane RF (hits LHP decently because he's not really a switchhitter)

Gomes should be the 4th OF'er, Nava should be the 5th OF'er/backup 1st base.

Gomes and Nava should DH until Ortiz comes off the DL.

Bradley gives the team charisma, excitement, the leadership of a proven championship player, and it gives them a very strong, overall, defensive OF. Better to have Shane's v. LP starting than Gomes.

Gomes is the perfect pinch hitter bat, once Ortiz comes back. If the game is late, and they trail and they need the long ball, Gomes is perfect guy to pinch hit for everyone in the lineup except for Middlebrooks Pedroia and Napoli. Unless someone is red hot in those situations, Gomes should pinch hit for Ellsbury or Bradley or the SS and catcher slot.

Gomes should play the OF as little as possible. Sweeney should be waived and assigned to the minors if he clears waivers, and there is a good chance he will.

I think I said nobody would complain if he was on the opening day roster and stayed with the team all season long.

Like many others, I'm just trying to guess what our Front Office will do, so please don't take my thoughts as being what I demand.....they are what I think the FO will believe is the smart BB decision.

I'm just looking at how I think Ben and the gang will answer this question. My guess is that JBJ will either start the season in AAA or at some point during the year spend at least 20 games in the minors.

If I'm wrong and our FO decides otherwise, like I said.......I won't complain a bit about it.

However, if it WAS up to me, I'd trade the 9 games for another year. I fully understand where you're coming from, but if the Sox aren't going to be good enough to make up any lost games that JBJ could have won for us in the first 9 games, then I don't see the point.

edit: I should add to this by saying I would have no problem starting the season with JBJ on the roster, but at some point (when Ortiz comes back) I would send him to AAA for 20 games to delay his free agency by a year. I understand that this team shouldn't be worried about a few million bucks 7 years from now, but then again, those few million bucks add up to the point where we end up trading guys like AGon, Beckett, Crawford and Punto don't they..? It may sound silly for the Sox to be looking to save money, but from a business sense, it makes all the sense in the world to extend a players free agency...........that is if you really believe in him. It may not be the best team would could put on the field for the 1st 9 games this season, but given the trade off and knowing there are 153 games to go, I think I would take that chance........but that's just me.

Maybe he is ready, maybe he is not. He's obviously playing at a very high level but spring training stats need to be talking with a grain of salt....more like a bag of salt. With that said, that doesn't mean he isn't ready either. He was in single A last year then moved up to double A and struggled. However, even though he struggled he still performed at a decent level, and that could also partially be due to being tired having sustained his first full professional season. Now he has proven that he is fast moving, so he could easily be much better this season than he was the last. Reality is no one here is a scout down in florida looking at him.

Regardless of who is right or who is wrong we will see Bradley in Boston this year, that is clear and something we can 100% agree on.

However if we want to shift the converstation into whether or not he WILL start the season in Boston I take a few things into consideration.

If Bradley is going to start, then the Sox are either going to trade Ellsbury, or they will be giving Bradley time in LF/RF. Or possibly they would be giving Ellsbury time in LF.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen none of those things, nor heard any rumors. So like it or not.....it doesn't appear that JBJ is slated to start the seasons in Boston. Now if you all of a sudden find him in LF/RF during these last spring training games then that may be a sign that he will start. But as of right now.....it ain't ganna happen.

It is inconceivable that this kid will be sent to Pawtucket. I can think of a dozen statements that would make to the Bostn fans, and to Bradley himself. Maybe the most stupid and cash-conscious message the team could send out would be "this is a re-building season". Or, we don't trust this kid, if he turns out like we suspect he will, to show any loyalty 6 years from now. And why should he? He'll get the message: it's about money, Kid!

Maybe he is ready, maybe he is not. He's obviously playing at a very high level but spring training stats need to be talking with a grain of salt....more like a bag of salt. With that said, that doesn't mean he isn't ready either. He was in single A last year then moved up to double A and struggled. However, even though he struggled he still performed at a decent level, and that could also partially be due to being tired having sustained his first full professional season. Now he has proven that he is fast moving, so he could easily be much better this season than he was the last. Reality is no one here is a scout down in florida looking at him.

Regardless of who is right or who is wrong we will see Bradley in Boston this year, that is clear and something we can 100% agree on.

However if we want to shift the converstation into whether or not he WILL start the season in Boston I take a few things into consideration.

If Bradley is going to start, then the Sox are either going to trade Ellsbury, or they will be giving Bradley time in LF/RF. Or possibly they would be giving Ellsbury time in LF.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen none of those things, nor heard any rumors. So like it or not.....it doesn't appear that JBJ is slated to start the seasons in Boston. Now if you all of a sudden find him in LF/RF during these last spring training games then that may be a sign that he will start. But as of right now.....it ain't ganna happen.

I agree, especially with this.....

"Regardless of who is right or who is wrong we will see Bradley in Boston this year, that is clear and something we can 100% agree on."

I also agree that it doesn't appear that either the Sox mgmt or FO is looking to start the season with him. Right or wrong doesn't matter. That to me seems like the reality.

Keeping him out for 9 games vs losing another full year of control is probably the smart move here.

Add to it that the kid has yet to play AAA ball and I think the answer is obvious.

Let him get his hacks in at Pawtucket then bring him up to aclimate him to the big leagues for next season.

Who knows, as often as Ellsbury seems to be able to injure himself, JBJ may get a lot of ML playing time this year.

Chris, you seem to be doing nothing more than repeating buzz phrases like "control", and spouting out the reflex company line. There is no "control", it's called arbitration award. Bradley's arbitration award, in 7 years vs. his market for one year of FA is something that you don't have a clue about. Ellsbury's getting nearly 10 million a year from arbitration awards. The notion that the Red Sox need to focus less on the best line-up for winning as many of the first or any 9 baseball games during the first half of the season, just to bean count on what would amount to 5 or 10M speculative costs 7 years from now, that's utterly incompetent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the notion that a couple more weeks of AAA, because he hasn't done AAA yet, is lazy bugaboo! Lebron James didn't play college basketball.

Management will actually go on the PR crusade to defend a move like this, which can't be defended because it's a big market team who spends a fortune on toilet seats and gets no points for a bureaucratic hypocritical bean counting move like this!

I notice this guy is acting as of Bradley on the roster means that he'll be a bench OF'er because Ellsbury is in CF? What! If the Red Sox management is so stupid that they don't start Bradley in LF, they are more incompetent than I though. Gomes and Nava or Sweeney or Carp, Red Sox fans should boycott if they make a move like that.

It's real simple. 7 years from now, if Bradley is still around and fit and playing well in MLB as a starter, it's a grain of sand on a beach for the Red Sox to spend on the difference in the arbitration award and first free agent year for Bradley, Jr. If they don't like him enough to sign him to a FA contract, they don't need to be doing this stupid nonsense they are doing with Ellsbury. They need to trade him before it gets to this nonsense.

The best lineup to give the Red Sox the best chance to win any set of 9 games during the first half of the season to see if they want to become a minor league exhibition team like last year's 2nd half or not, the best lineup since they refuse to trade Ellsbury is:

Bradley LF (reamins to be seen but gets on base and has speed)

Ellsbury CF (hits LP and RP very similarly)

Shane RF (hits LHP decently because he's not really a switchhitter)

Gomes should be the 4th OF'er, Nava should be the 5th OF'er/backup 1st base.

Gomes and Nava should DH until Ortiz comes off the DL.

Bradley gives the team charisma, excitement, the leadership of a proven championship player, and it gives them a very strong, overall, defensive OF. Better to have Shane's v. LP starting than Gomes.

Gomes is the perfect pinch hitter bat, once Ortiz comes back. If the game is late, and they trail and they need the long ball, Gomes is perfect guy to pinch hit for everyone in the lineup except for Middlebrooks Pedroia and Napoli. Unless someone is red hot in those situations, Gomes should pinch hit for Ellsbury or Bradley or the SS and catcher slot.

Gomes should play the OF as little as possible. Sweeney should be waived and assigned to the minors if he clears waivers, and there is a good chance he will.